Blog

Tony Sullivan in the living room of the home he shared with late partner Richard Adams for decades
Where Are They Now?
June, 8, 2016

United States Officially Recognizes Tony Sullivan and Richard Adams’s Marriage

Independent Lens in Where Are They Now?

For those of you who remember the dear story told in the Independent Lens film Limited Partnership, longtime partners Tony Sullivan and Richard Adams became one of the first same sex couples to be legally married in the world, in 1975 in…
Dogtown Redemption Filmmakers Chihiro Wimbush and Amir Soltani (l-r)
Behind the Films
May, 13, 2016

Seven Years Filming the Homeless of Oakland

Independent Lens in Behind the Films

The filmmaking team of Amir Soltani and Chihiro Wimbush both come from incredibly varied backgrounds, and bring an abundance of talents and interests to the table for the first feature documentary film for both as directors: Dogtown Redemption, which won…
From Dogtown Redemption: A recycler named Jason takes a break from hauling with his bicycle and cart.
Beyond the Films
May, 13, 2016

How Homeless Recyclers Make a Living Redeeming Recyclables

Carolyn Abate in Beyond the Films

It is 7 a.m. on a clear spring morning in San Francisco and the lines at Our Planet Recycling SF are already 25 people deep. The customers, queued up in rows of four, stand among a collection of rubber garbage…
Armed in America: Faith & Guns title card
Beyond the Films
May, 9, 2016

Armed in America: Faith & Guns

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyEk0YiiRwQ Join PBS for a town hall conversation about gun violence and the moral obligation to prevent it. Armed in America: Faith & Guns, a one-hour special event moderated by award-winning journalist Michel Martin, weekend host of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” explores the relationship…
Armed in America: Police & Guns title card
May, 9, 2016

Armed in America: Police & Guns

Independent Lens

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTgZbHEh4oI Join PBS for a town hall conversation examining the militarization of police and the nation's gun violence epidemic. Armed in America: Police & Guns, a one-hour special event moderated by award-winning journalist Michel Martin, weekend host of NPR’s “All Things Considered,”…
Filmmaker Abigail Disney sits down with Lucy McBath for the film Armor of Light
Behind the Films
May, 9, 2016

Abigail Disney Wields the Power of Dialogue with The Armor of Light

Independent Lens in Behind the Films

Abigail Disney (her grandfather was Roy O. Disney, Walt's brother and co-founder of the Walt Disney Company, just to get that out of the way) has long been a producer of award-winning documentaries, including producing The Invisible War (Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated film for…
Announcements
May, 3, 2016

PBS to Present “Armed in America” Town Halls, a Special Two-Night Event After Independent Lens

Independent Lens in Announcements

PBS will present ARMED IN AMERICA, a special two-night television event exploring the nation’s rising gun violence. Armed in America centers around two acclaimed documentaries presented by Independent Lens: Peace Officer, about a former sheriff who, after establishing and training Utah’s…
Horst van Wächter and Niklas Frank (l-r), with Philippe Sands in background
Beyond the Films
April, 27, 2016

Blood Guilt: 12 Movies about Healing after Heinous Crimes

Sean Axmaker in Beyond the Films

Niklas Frank and Horst von Wächter are the adult children of high-ranking Nazi officers. As we learn in My Nazi Legacy, their fathers sent tens of thousands of people to their deaths, and Niklas and Horst spent decades dealing with…
A SWAT team on the move in Leith, North Dakota
Beyond the Films
April, 1, 2016

Who Is Watching the Hate? Tracking Hate Groups Online and Beyond

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

In Welcome to Leith, the story of what happens when notorious white supremacist Craig Cobb tries to take over a small North Dakota community as a base for himself and his followers, may seem an unusual case. But for those who track…
Behind the Films
March, 31, 2016

“Leith” Filmmakers Michael Beach Nichols and Christopher K. Walker Capture a Town in a Powderkeg

Independent Lens in Behind the Films

Michael Beach Nichols and Christopher K. Walker have produced eye-popping, gritty fare before, including an acclaimed film about street dancing, Flex Is Kings, and the HBO film Hard Times: Lost in Long Island (which Walker edited), but making Welcome to Leith was a…
Dayshal Dicks with her niece Brianna Hallingquest
Beyond the Films
February, 23, 2016

African Americans Hit Hardest by HIV in the South

Lisa Ko in Beyond the Films

While HIV/AIDS is no longer a death sentence to the same extent it was 20 years ago, 50,000 Americans are diagnosed with HIV each year, and the disparities are startling when broken down by race, gender, and region. As reflected…
Saeed Shariff Torres drives through the streets of Pittsburgh.
Interviews
February, 22, 2016

Lyric Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe Capture an FBI Informant

Independent Lens in Interviews

To do a film about an undercover FBI anti-terror sting is already tricky territory to navigate, but filmmakers Lyric Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe infiltrated even deeper. In (T)ERROR, they gained unprecedented access to an FBI informant, for a documentary Brian Tallerico (on…